Conscious Eating

Conscious Eating

I always teach my clients that awarenessis the FIRST and LAST step. Being completely conscious of one’s decisions about food leads to many positive health benefits. We either nurture ourselves while we eat, enjoying and savoring every bite while we give our bodies what they need, or we mindlessly shovel whatever is convenient into our mouths without regard for nutrition and long-term sustenance.

The American practice of mass production of food that has led to unparalleled abundance and the associated proclivity toward excessive eating has become a plague on our society. Together they have caused a shift of consciousness away from the consequences of eating low quality food. Just as a car requires the proper fuel to operate effectively, our bodies need an appropriate intake of quality nutrients in order to perform at our best. Understanding that poor diet leads to a deterioration in bodily function should persuade us to more closely regulate our diets and live more healthfully.

Conscious management of eating habits improves your nutrition and general cognizance. This cognizance moves you toward balance. To achieve balance, you must experiment and be willing to try new techniques. I recommend a 30 day challenge. Challenge yourself to eliminate something like dairy, gluten, sugar, or alcohol for 30 days. After day 30 of your elimination diet, pig out on the foods that you had sworn off.

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Take note of how your body reacts to the re-introduction of these less desirable foods.

You may find some unpleasant side effects like bloating, lethargy, or fat gain. You can see that this becomes a careful exercise in awareness and choice as you develop your consciousness of the foods that may be problematic for your system. Moving forward you can more easily make wise eating a routine by breaking your “programmed” eating habits and incorporating better food choices at planned intervals.

Since every body reacts differently to nutrition, try cutting out snacking or “grazing” style eating. Instead, have a complete meal with a complex carbohydrate like sweet potatoes or brown rice, quality fats like avocado or olive oil, and a piece of grass fed or pastured meat protein. Eat these meals spaced out between 3-4 hours. This is clean eating and will allow you a sufficient time frame to analyze how the foods you ate at the meal affect you through the coming hours.

To develop a finely tuned consciousness while eating, the key is practice. Practice until you feel proficient in deciding what your body truly wants and needs. Stick to the same foods that you know digest well and make you feel good. Try spacing meals out at different timed intervals that best suit you. Some people do well on 2 big meals per day, while others need 5 smaller meals. Every body is different. Because of this, I recommend trying an elimination diet to get you to the point where you see how foods can react in your system. From there, your consciousness will shift toward wanting only good foods that react well with you.

By adhering to what our body needs, we can more easily gain consciousness of our body and mind. It is only in conjunction that our body/mind can thrive. We must take time to practice, experiment, and note changes in our eating habits. It is through complete recognition of your choices that you may find a healthy balance with your nutrition.